APA STYLE GUIDE

Citation style based on the

Publication Manual (5th edition)
of the American Psychological
Association (APA)
For Assignments , thesis and power point
presentations

 This guide focuses only on citation.

 Not on formatting,titling and other aspects

of the entire document.

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Plagiarism
We borrow products of
other people’s intellectual or
artistic efforts and fail to
acknowledge the owners or
even flaunt them as if they
were our own.

This is plagiarism – stealing intellectual property. It

is wrong.

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Acknowledge. . . . . . . .
There is nothing shameful
about borrowing other
people’s ideas.

But we must
acknowledge borrowed
ideas.

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Why to give references or “works cited”

in the words of the APA Publication

Manual (2001, p.348), “to
ensure the accuracy of
scientific and scholarly
knowledge,” and “to protect
intellectual property rights.”

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What are the advantages in acknowledging intellectual
borrowings honestly and accurately?

Advantage 1:
the satisfaction that you’ve done the right thing.

Advantage 2:
enhances your credibility without burdening you with
proportionate responsibility.

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for example, you state, without citing any credible source,
that there has been very little research on what kinds of organizational
designs lead to successful technical and organizational innovations,

(it is a mere statement of your opinion. Your reader may or may not take
it seriously unless there is evidence that you are an expert in the field and/or that
you have reviewed studies in the field. But if you cite Khandwalla and Mehta
(2004) in support of your statement, there is a fundamental change in the way it is
perceived. )

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Advantage 3:

The third advantage goes to your readers.

Accurate acknowledgement makes it possible for

them to go to the original source and study the issue
in depth if they wish to.

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What is the difference between references and
bibliography?

‘References’ ‘Bibliography’

List of sources you have Sources you have

actually cited or cited + relevant
mentioned in your sources that you have
document. consulted or are
aware of, but not used
in the document.

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‘Reference’ is nothing but identifying a source accurately. we identify
printed source documents by providing mostly the following data:

1. author’s name (surname + initials or fore names),

2. year of publication,

3. title of publication,

4. place of publication,

5. and publisher (for books) or Volume/Issue

6. and article page numbers (for journals).

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APA style

 Author-date citation.

 Developed by American Psychological Association.

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 APA style is the most widely adopted
citation style for academic writing in social
sciences, business, and management

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 it is easy on the reader’s eyes.
(The core information – the author’s name and year of publication –the
author’s name and how recent the information is given within the running
text.)

 No foot notes, end notes etc..

 several online guides to the APA style with fully worked out samples
are readily available

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citations match references

Every citation in the text should have a corresponding entry

in ‘References.’

Similarly, every entry in ‘References’ should have a citation

in the text.

In other words, don’t put in ‘References’ sources you have

not cited in the text.

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 In-text citations

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work (book or journal article) by one author
Examples:

 Sengupta (2004) has argued for …

 Downsizing has been criticized on ethical grounds

(Sengupta, 2004), and …

 Downsizing has been described as “unethical” by

Sengupta (2004, p.38) and …

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work (book or journal article) by two or more authors

Khandwalla and Mehta (2004) argue …

If there are three to five authors, mention all the surnames when
introduced.
Williams, Jones, Smith, Bradner, and Torrington (1983)

If you cite the source again…. Williams et al. (1983)

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When you have to cite two authors with the
same surname

use the author initials also to distinguish between

the two.

Example:
 RS Mehta (1999) and PL Mehta (2001)
agree on . . . . . .

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When you cite several works by different
authors at the same spot

When you cite different authors at a particular point,

separate the citations with a semicolon. Arrange the entries
alphabetically, not chronologically.

Example:
This model has been applied to small and medium
enterprises in Europe, USA, and recently in Asia (Frankel,
1994; Kaiser, Gupta, & Alam, 2004; Kwok, 2000; Peroux &
Abbee, 1997; Whitaker, 1999).

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When you use a secondary source

At times you are unable to access the original work (called ‘primary source’).
Take, for example, an article by R.H. Grover, published in 1970. You are
unable to access it. But you find that an important idea from it has been quoted
or paraphrased by S. Chatterjee in her 1997 book, which you access.
Grover (1970) is the ‘primary source’ and Chatterjee (1997) the ‘secondary
source.’

In your text you should indicate the primary source but also cite the secondary
source.

Example: Grover’s 1970 definition of pension benefits (as cited in Chatterjee,

1997) is still adopted by…

In the References section, give the full bibliographical details of only the
secondary source that you actually consulted.

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 In-text citations, electronic sources

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When there are no page numbers
(Many electronic sources do not have page numbers.)

But many have numbered paragraphs. Use the paragraph number

preceded by the symbol ¶ or by the abbreviation “para.”

Example:
The new pension scheme has been criticized from an ethical
perspective (Sengupta, 2003, ¶5) and from a sociological perspective
(Grover, 2004, para. 12).

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 References

………the APA style

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References

 This section comes at the end of the text of the

report/document.

 The entries should be arranged alphabetically

according to the author surnames

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Journal
……………….Article by single author
Koenig, H. G. (1990). Research on religion and mental health in later life: A review and commentary.
Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 23-53.

The parts of this reference are labelled below. Note the punctuation after each
component. Note also the use of italics for some components.
Article’s author: Koenig, H. G.
Year of publication: (1990)
Title of the article: Research on religion…commentary
Name of the Journal: Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Volume number: 23
Issue number: [Not mentioned. This is because this journal does not have separate
numbering for each issue. If the first issue of Volume 23 ends on, say, page 170, the
second issue will start from page 171. Therefore we don’t need to mention which
issue the article is taken from. The volume number and page numbes will do.]
Page numbers: 23-53

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Journal
………………..Article by two authors

Levin, J. S., & Vanderpool, H. Y. (1991). Religious factors in physical

health and the prevention of illness. Prevention in Human Services,
9(2), 41-64.

Note: Here there are two authors. See the ampersand (&) used to link
the two authors.
Another detail you will have noticed is 9(2). This means that the article
comes in Volume 9 (italicized) and Issue 2 (in brackets, not
italicized). The rest is the same as entry 1 above.
Note also that when you cite two authors in the text, you join them not
by an ampersand but by the word, ‘and.’

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Journal
…………….. Article by three or more authors

Schollmeyer, E., Buschmaan, H. J., Jansen, K., & Wego, A. (2002).

Surface modification of polymers using supramolecular compounds.
Progress in Colloid and Polymer Science, 121, 39-42.

Here there are four authors. Note the way the initials are given and the
names are separated from each other.

Example of in-text citation: Schollmeyer, Buschmaan, Jansen, and

Wego (2002) argued that supramolecular compounds can be used to...
If there are six or more authors, it is enough to cite the surname of the
first author and give the phrase, ‘et al.’ to refer to the others both when
the reference is introduced and later on.

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Article in a magazine or newspaper

Desai, A. V. (2004, July 26). Why farmers kill themselves.

Businessworld, 24, 10.

Here you have to mention the date of publication, not just

the year. Note that the name of the magazine/newspaper
is in italics. The number 24 refers to the volume number
and 10 is the page number.

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Conference Paper

 Malhotra, S.P. (2008, December). Epistemological issues related

quality research in education. Paper presented at the Conference of
All India Association for Educational Research, Jammu, Jammu &
Kashmir, India.

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Thesis
Raghavan, J. (1984). A critical study of Aurobindo’s conception to the
building of modern Indian philosophy of education. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, Nagpur University, Nagpur.

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Dissertation Abstract

Darling, C.W. (1976). Giver of due regard: the poetry of

Richard Wilbur. Dissertation abstracts International,
44,4465. (AAD44-8794)

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Books

The identifying details of a book are

somewhat different from those of a journal article.

Besides the name of the author and year of

publication, you need the title of the book (in
italics), the place of publication, and name of the
publisher.

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1. Book by single author

Abrahamson, E. (2004).Change without pain.

Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Citations are just like those of journal articles:

surname, year of publication, (and page number
for direct quotes).

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2. Book by two or more authors
Raghuram, G. & Rangachari, N. (2000). Logistics and supply chain
management. New Delhi: McMillan.

3. Book edited by one or more editors

Jelin, E. (Ed.). (1991). Family, household, and gender relations in Latin
America. New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall.

Here Jelin is not the author, but the editor. This information is indicated
by (Ed.) coming immediately after the surname and the year of
publication. If there are two or more editors, use (Eds.) between the
names and the year of publication.

Pearce, C. L. & Conger, J. A. (Eds). (2003). Shared Leadership:

Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

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4. Article or chapter in an edited book

Gardener, E. D. (1988). Heretics. In S. Nevins & L. Bointer (Eds.), 16th

Century England (pp. 327-384). London: Methuen.

Author of chapter: E. D. Gardener

Title of chapter: Heretics
Editors: S. Nevins & L. Bointer (Eds.)
Title of the book: 16th Century England
Page numbers of the chapter: 327-384
Publisher's name: Methuen
Publisher's location: London

Example of citation: Gardener (1988) presents an unconventional view

of religious …

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5. Book without author’s/editor’s name

The CCH Macquarie dictionary of business. (1993). North

Ryde, NSW: CCH Australia.

Here the title of the book takes the author position. When
you arrange the references according to the surnames of
authors, treat the first significant word in the title as the
operative word, here CGH.

Example of citation: According to some business

dictionaries (e.g. The CCH Macquarie dictionary of
business, 1993) an intrapreneur is…

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6. Book, revised edition
Springer, S. P., & Deutsch, G. (1985). Left brain, right brain (Rev. ed.). New York:
W. H. Freeman.
Here it is made clear to the reader that the reference is to the revised edition of the
book. The procedure is to give (Rev. ed.) immediately after the title of the book.

7. Non-English book
Piaget, L & lnhelder, B. (1951). La genese de l’idee de hasard chez l’enfant [The
origin of the idea of chance in the child]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Provide the title of the article in the original form and the translated title in parenthesis

8. English translation of a book

Luria, A. R. (1969). The mind of a mnemonist (L. Solotaroff, Trans.). New York:
Avon Books. (Original work published 1965)
The original author is A.R Luria. The translator is L. Solotaroff. That is indicated by
the word, Trans. after the translator’s name.

Example of citation: Luria (1965/1969) was one the earliest to analyze …

Both the original publication date and the date of the translation are given in that order
separated by a slash.

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9. Brochure, corporate author
Winslow-Ames Consulting Group. (2003). Caring for the
elderly: An intensive workshop (3rd ed.) [Brochure]. New
York: Author.

If an organization is the author and publisher of a document such as a

brochure, use the word ‘author’ in place of the publisher’s name. In
brackets, identify the publication as a brochure. The rest of the
reference is the same as for books.

10. Entry in an encyclopedia

Marchant, E. (2003). Gypsy oak. In The new encyclopedia
Britannica (Vol. 42, pp. 304-305). Chicago: Encyclopedia
Britannica.

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B2: References to Electronic Sources

Electronic references today typically specify the following details:

1. Name of the author/s (if available)
2. Date on which the article is published or uploaded (if available)
3. Title of the article
4. Name of the source (example, journal, newsletter)
5. Date on which the article was retrieved
6. The complete URL
The URL should link directly to the article, wherever possible. In other words, it is
not enough to give the URL of the homepage when reference has been made to a
specific page.
Use n.d. (no date) when the publication date of the article is not available.
The date of retrieval is important when referring to electronic sources because in the
electronic form, articles might not be available indefinitely or the URL may change
making it difficult for others to access it.

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1. Internet articles based on or scanned from a print source
(Today some print journals, magazines and newspapers have an electronic version
which can be accessed via the World Wide Web. Supply as much publication data as
you can get about the document you consult. Note that there are no page numbers in
the html version. If, however, the file you access is a PDF one, it will give the page
numbers, tables, graphics and so on exactly as in the print version. In such cases you
will be able to indicate page numbers too.)

Gentleman, J. (2004, August 1). Making wheels of justice turn in a chaotic Iraq. The
New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2004 from
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/01/international/middleeast/01LAWY.html?hp

Here you have the name of the author. The date of publication is given because the
source is a daily. Both these are given as in print sources along with the title of the
article (Making Wheels of Justice Turn in a Chaotic Iraq) and the source (The New
York Times). The information was retrieved on August 1, 2004. The Internet address
given will take you straight to the page where the article appeared. There is, however,
no page number because the electronic source does not give any.

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Here is an example from the electronic version of The Times of India.

Kokje, M. (2004, June 14). Living and loathing in Mumbai. The Times of India.
Retrieved June 20, 2004 from
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/739612.cms

Here is another example, from The Economist, where the author’s name is not given because it
is not known.

America’s business backlash: The uncertain return of the hero boss (2004, July 15).
The Economist. Retrieved August 1, 2004 from
http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2925910

The title of the article is given in place of the author. The date and year of publication are
given because the source, The Economist, is a weekly. The exact path to the page from
which the article was retrieved is given too along with the date on which it was retrieved.

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2. Article in an Internet-only journal

Sobrero, P. M. (2004, April). Futuring: The Implementation of

Anticipatory Excellence. Journal of Extension, 42(2). Retrieved June
20, 2004, from
http://www.joe.org/joe/2004april/comm1.shtml

Here 42 is the volume number and 2 the issue number. As the month
and year of publication are available, they have been included in the
reference entry.

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3. Article in an Internet-only newsletter

Scheid, J.F. (2004, January/February). BSE cow in U.S. triggers FDA, USDA
cooperative response, new rules announced. FDA Veterinarian Newsletter,
19(1). Retrieved July 31, 2004 from
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/index/fdavet/2004/Jan-Feb04%20Vet.pdf

In an Internet periodical, volume and issue numbers often are not relevant. If
they are not used or given in the original document, the name of the periodical
is all that can be provided in the reference. In this example, however, the
volume and issue numbers are available, and so are given.

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4. Electronic copy of a journal article, retrieved from a database

Mahoney, J. T. (2001). A resource-based theory of sustainable rents. Journal of

Management, 27(6), 651-660. Retrieved July 6, 2004, from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science

The article by Mahoney appeared in the printed version of the Journal of Management,
Volume 27, issue (6), pages 651-660. Note that ‘p’ is not written before page 651. The
electronic version of this printed article was retrieved on July 6, 2004, from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science
The exact address of the page from which the article is taken is:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6W59-44NM46T-3-
1&_cdi=6565&_orig=browse&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2001&_sk=999729993&view=c&wchp=dGLb
VlzzSkzk&_
acct=C000050223&_version=1&_userid=1007252&md5=8eabd0fa6142dc34dee898d8cad96373&ie
=f.pdf
However, it is unnecessary to give such an impractically long string. This article has been
retrieved from a collection of articles, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science rather than
from the journal’s own site. When you take an article from such a collection, it is enough to
indicate the URL of the collection; the reader can easily get to the exact location from it.

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Here is another example, taken from a commercial database: EBSCO
HOST.
Jarrow, R., Ruppert, D., & Yu, Y. (2004). Estimating the interest rate
term structure of corporate debt with a semiparametric penalized spline
model. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 99(465), 57-66.
Retrieved June 20, 2004, from EBSCO HOST Business Source
Premier database.

In this example 99 is the volume number and (465) is the issue

number. The article starts on
page 57 and ends on page 66. Only the name of the database is given,
not the direct link to
the page on which the article starts.

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5. Chapter or section in an Internet document

Bernstein, J. (n.d.) Integrating public relations and legal strategy: Trial

by media. Retrieved August 1, 2004 from
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/docs/azatty2.html

In this example the date of publication/uploading is not given (n.d.)

because it is not available. The author has put up on the World Wide
Web several articles dealing with
crisis management. The one cited is from among them. The link given
will take you there direct.

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6. Document available on university program or
department Web site

Kaplan, D. E. & Black, J. B. (2001). Computer-based tools for the

development and investigation of scientific reasoning skills. Retrieved
June 20, 2004, from Columbia University, Institute for Learning
Technologies Web site:
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/kaplanblack.html

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7. Report from a private organization, available on its Web site

Tata Sons Ltd. (2004, April 26). Financial results for the Quarter and
year ended 31 March, 2004. Retrieved June 20, 2004, from
http://www.tata.com/cmc/releases/20040428fin.htm

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8. Electronic data from government agencies

Census of India 2001. (2001). Population in the age group 0 - 6 years

by sex and sex ratio (0-6). Retrieved June 20, 2004, from Census of
India online via access:
http://www.censusindia.net/t_00_004.html

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References

Mohanty, S. B.,(2010,June). Workshop on writing research papers/scholarly

articles: reading materials. Paper presented at the Workshop on writing
research papers/scholarly articles, University of Calicut, Kozhikode.

Monippally, M.M., Pawar, B.S., Nande,K., & Deou, B. (2004). IIMA Citation
Style Guide For Presenting Assignments. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from
http://stdwww.iimahd.ernet.in/IIMA_Style_Guide_2004.pdf

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